GENERAL NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 October 1919, Page 12

GENERAL NEWS.

Cr, Crabb, chairman of the M&ngahao Hydro-Electric Vigilance Committee, told the. Palmerston North Borough Council Tuesday night that at the rate the work was going on it would not only he five but ten years before it was completed. "There was a feeling of keenness in the Minister and also in the House, but it did not seem to make the work go faster." Too much "Reform" and not enough ginger.

As an instance of the Japanese progressive spirit it is interesting to note that the authorities in that country give a subsidy of £IOO for every motor car manufactured in Japan, and £SO for every man who imports a car. ' Possibly Henry Ford is unaware of the new Japanese law, otherwise he might think of transferring his works eastward. Turning out "Tin Lizzies" at the rate of three a minute with a subsidy of £IOO on each would be a very profitable undertaking.—Exchange.

"It seems to me we are governed by humbug rather than by statesmanship," remarked Mr P. E. Cheal at the-meet-ing of the Auckland Railway League recently. The chairman added that about a year ago the Prime Minister had said that, as soon as ever the war ended, everything was arranged to put ten or twelve thousand returnld soldiers on railway works. That was all that had happened so far, and he doubted if the picks and shovels were available if the men were put on.

No party had any right to rule unless it had behind it' the majority oi •the people, said Mr Veitch, M.P., at -Masterton. The moderate men had withdrawn from the Labor Party owing to the extreme views held by some of its leßdore. Extremists were responsible for the downfall of the Labor Party in Australia and the organisations there were now expelling extremists from their ranks. Labor would never be adequately represented in Parliament while it subscribed to extreme views.

At Gisborne last week a man named George Robert Peacock was fined £2O and cost* for playing a game known as "rollers." Detective McLeod said the etock-in-trade was a strip of oilcloth painted in four different colors, brown, blue, yellow, and green. Four sides of the wood are painted brown, the betting on which is even money; two sides are painted blue, the betting being two to one. One side is green, and one yellow, on which the betting is three to one The wood is rolled along the cloth, and the owner pays out on all the backers of the color that turns up. With a skilful man rolling there was absolutely no chance of the punters winning.

Supplies of butter for the local market are now about normal (says the Wellington Post).- Medium cheese for the retail trade is also now available. The butter season is still backward in this district, and the South Island continues to draw on the North Island for supplies. It has been gathered from •Xew York correspondence that, arising out of the Is rate per lb which Cana° diau cheese reached in consequence of the Imperial demand for that woduct, purchases of Canadian were made in New York and other export markets as Is to Is Id per pound and shipped from Is 3d to Is 4d to Scandinavia and other Continental markets.

At a meeting in Cambridge a provisional hydro-electric power board was set up. A discussion ensued regarding the price of current, which Mr. Short, of the Public Works Department, recently stated would be £9 per horse power." Mr. Boche, C.E., who supervised the carrying out of the work at Horahora, assured the board that a charge of £5 per horse power would pay the Government, and save the people of the Waikato £36,<aK) per annum. The price is regarded as vitally important to the success of the general scheme- Actual steps are to be taken to induce the Minister to fix a reasonable charge.

Taking the wrong turning" landed a quartette of revellers, who were returning to Baumai from the Pirates' dance, in the cattle-stop at Terrace End early on Tuesday morning. For two long fain-drenched hours, four men in swaltow tails and four maids in flimsies, vainly wrestled with a stubborn "Buick," which had buried its wheels between the cross pieces. The 4 a.m. train, unable to pass, attached a towline to the engine, and backing, gradually persuaded the reluctant car to return to the road, where it remained with a crumpled hind wheel. The soaking broadcloth was ripped and rent, and medallions of mud made an inartistic trimmmg to gowns which had proved conclusively that ninon and georgette are not rainproof. Anqther car was requisitioned and the morning roll call found Ealmai at /ull strength.

Ngauruhoe has been in eruption recently. The honorary warden of .the Tongariro National Park* (Mr J. Cullen, !.5.0.) stated last week (says the New Zealand Herald) that lately the mountains have allAbeen covered-with snow right down to the base. . When the residents of Waimarino arose one morning, however, they found that the whole of tlie north side of Ngauruhoe and the shoulder of Tongariro were black, owing to a discharge of scoria ash during an eruption on the preceding night. Again, on Friday week, at about 4.30 p.m., Ngauruhoe sent up another great shot, which continued until nearly dark. This drifted over the line of the previous deposit, the wind being in the same direction. At the beginning of last week, when Mr Cullen left the district, the portion of the mountain affected was still black. The lip of Ngauruhoe, on the south and south-eastern sides, ivas also very much serrated and had fallen in.

Interviewed at Palmereton North, a returned soldier, who paid some attention to tlie distribution of frozen meat while in London, gave', some particulars which are not generally known in New Zealand. In the course of his inquiries he visited Smithfield Market, and saw both New Zealand and Argentine mutton exposed for sale. He was shown some fine, plump carcases of wether mutton, from New Zealand, which he was astonished to learn were being sold at from 2d to 3d per lb below Argentine mutton, which -was by no means as good, and which had a skinny appearance. On making inquiries as to how this came about, he was informed that the Argentine product came to hand in a condition more acceptable to the eye than that from New Zealand. It was pointed out to him that while the bags covering the carcases from the Dominion were unsightly, those from South America were clean and without stains. He found that this was due to the fact that the Argentine meat left the freezing works enclosed in duplicate covers. On reaching the distribution stores in London the outer cover was removed, Having the wider ous perfectly clean, >